


It's Been Real

by TinCanTelephone



Series: From Tumblr, With <3 [27]
Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Pining, all that good stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-12 03:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17459750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinCanTelephone/pseuds/TinCanTelephone
Summary: Roommates and best friends Cassian and Jyn pretend to be dating, and nothing gets confusing at all.





	It's Been Real

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justtolkienabout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justtolkienabout/gifts).



> For @justtolkienabout on tumblr: a fic where Jyn & Cassian have been pretending to be dating, but now they’ve reached the end of their agreement
> 
> This is also for @basada-en-la-esperanza, because they requested at one point a scene inspired by [this amazing manip](http://runakvaed.tumblr.com/post/169972752383/writing-prompt-abuela-embarrasses-cassian-at) by the very talented @runakvaed

On the face of it, this was probably Cassian’s fault, and he did accept some of the responsibility. On the other hand, this whole thing could’ve been avoided if Jyn hadn’t interfered. Although she would say this is why he should video chat with relatives in his bedroom rather than in the living room. 

What happened was, Jyn came home early and in a good mood because her paper was accepted to  _PLOS Biology_ , so when she saw him on his laptop in the middle of a conversation, she assumed it was his sister and immediately joined him on the couch. 

“Hey Francisca, guess what– Oh, never mind.”

Cassian cleared his throat. “Jyn, this is my Tía Josefina. She’ll be in town next week.” 

“Oh, hello.” She waved awkwardly, then turned to Cassian. “Can we go to the store tomorrow? I think we’re almost out of milk.” 

“Sure.”

“Awesome.” She left for her bedroom and Cassian turned back at his aunt, who looked  _way_  too excited for a conversation about groceries. 

“ _Cassian!_ ” she said in Spanish. “ _I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!_ ”

_Fuck_. Cassian opened his mouth to correct her. “Uh–”

“ _Your mother told me you had a roommate, but I didn’t realize it was a_ girl.  _You must introduce me._ ” She clapped her hands together and looked at her watch. “ _Oh, I have to start dinner but I’m so excited to see you both!”_

Cassian waved goodbye and managed a, “ _Me too,_ ” before Josefina hung up and he realized what he’d done. 

He weighed his options carefully, then approached Jyn with his tail between his legs and asked if she could just go along with it. 

She stared at him from her bed, sitting cross-legged watching Netflix and eating cereal right from the bag. 

He tried not to shrink at the judgment he could  _feel_  coming off of her. 

“Why can’t you just tell her the truth?” she said through a mouthful cheerios. 

Cassian groaned. “But she knows we live together and and it’ll take me forever to explain how my roommate is a girl and we’re not dating and even when she gets it she’ll gossip to all her friends and my conservative family.” 

She kept staring at him, and he could see the wheels turning.

“We wouldn’t have to kiss or anything,” he said. “Just maybe some hand-holding.”

“Hmm.” She shoved another handful of cheerios into her mouth. 

“And I’ll pay for dinner.”

She grinned, her cheeks full of cereal. “Deal.”

“Great.  _Thank you_.” 

“You’ll owe me big,” she said. 

“I will, you’re the best!” Then he went to bed in an excellent mood. This would be great. They’d wine and dine his aunt for a night or two, she wouldn’t question it, and if she still remembered in a few months he could say they broke up. 

 

* * *

 

That was a month ago, before Tía Josefina’s “short visit” turned into a three-week stay. Supposedly it was because the friend she was here to see needed extra support after her son left for college, but she seemed to call every other day wanting to take him out to dinner.

And she always asked if Jyn was coming. And when Jyn didn’t come, all she wanted to do was talk about Jyn. 

Cassian took to secretly recording his dinner conversations with her, not to be creepy or weird, but so he and Jyn could keep their story straight. He always AirDropped her the audio files when he returned, and gave her brief summaries if she was around. 

“Our first date was at Yavin IV on 6th,” he said one night as he shook the rain off his coat. “And we kissed that same night, on your doorstep.” 

“Romantic,” she said without taking her eyes off a rerun of  _Superstore_. She shoved another handful of popcorn (extra buttery) into her mouth. “Want some?” 

“Sure.” He joined her on the couch, grimacing as un-popped kernels and popcorn crumbs stuck to his socks. “I also said we mostly fought about how you’re super messy.” 

“Rude,” she said through another mouthful. 

“It’s true.”

She cocked an eyebrow and glanced over. “Are we letting art imitate life, Cassian?”

He froze, suddenly uncomfortable for a reason he couldn’t quite pinpoint. “If that’s… okay with you.” 

She stared him down for another couple seconds, then laughed and nudged his shoulder. “Nah, you know I’m messing with you.” 

He laughed, although it came out weird and high-pitched. “Oh. That’s good.” 

“Say whatever you want,” she said. “I’m dying to know what you imagine dating me would be like.” 

Her eyes returned to the TV and he thanked whatever God was up there she didn’t keep looking at him. He never thought about it before, but that was basically what he was doing. 

His mind was going a mile a minute and he was suddenly  _far_  too aware of how close her legs were to his, and how her hair was still wet from the shower and when the draft was right, he could smell her lavender shampoo. 

Fuck. He muttered some semblance of a goodnight and retreated to his bedroom. 

This was going to be harder than he thought. 

 

That night, he couldn’t sleep. He tried to tell himself he didn’t expect this to happen, to have trouble distinguishing between  _real_  and  _fake._  But the silence of his bedroom and the traffic outside judged him. 

From the living room, Jyn laughed at the TV and he jumped. Dammit, he  _liked_ her laugh. 

He rolled over and pulled the pillow over his head. Whatever. It didn’t mean anything, it was just his stupid brain confusing reality with make-believe. Soon enough this would all be over anyway. 

 

* * *

 

“Jyn, it’s so good to see you! It’s a shame your job keeps you so busy.” Tía Josefina gathered Jyn into a tight hug as they met outside the restaurant. 

“Yes, well it’s the only way we can afford our apartment,” Jyn said. 

“Oh, he’s so lucky to have you, isn’t he,” Josefina said. “Come on, our table is ready and I’ve already ordered a bottle of red.”

“Yes, he’s very lucky.” Jyn turned her head and winked at him as they followed his aunt to the table. 

Cassian thought he might die. 

It only got worse from there. On this last night out, Jyn seemed to be taking every opportunity to openly flirt with him, delighting in how flustered he got every time she so much as laid a hand on his elbow. 

At one point, Josefina reached out to flick his bangs. “Your mother was right– your hair is getting far too long!” 

“Josefina…” he started. 

But Jyn was faster. “I kind of like it fluffy like that.” She ruffled his hair, grinning while he struggled to maintain a straight face. 

“Really? Look at it falling over and hiding that beautiful face!” Josefina said.

“Aww.” Jyn’s bottom lip poked out and she brushed imaginary lint off his shoulder. 

And if that were it, Cassian could maybe stand it, but then she stood up and came behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulder and bowing her head so her lips were almost touching his ear. His face was burning and he pinched his lips shut to keep hysterical laughter from bursting out.

“I don’t think it hides his face.” She pressed a kiss to his temple and Cassian wondered if he would spontaneously combust. “His face is way too cute to be hidden.” 

Josefina was practically squealing. “You two are just  _precious_! Cassian, how did I not hear of her from your mother?” She took out her phone for a picture and Jyn abruptly stepped away. 

“Uh, that’s–”

“You don’t have to–” Cassian tried to stop her, but it was too late. 

“Nonsense!” She held up the phone “Smile!”  


And just like that, it was preserved forever. Cassian convinced her not to send it to anyone or (God forbid) post it on Facebook, but she insisted on sending it to him, and now he couldn’t get it out of his head. 

He had to admit, it was a good photo. Jyn was sitting, but still leaning towards him with one hand on his shoulder. She was looking at the camera, a smile on her face that was  _mostly_  genuine. He only knew it wasn’t quite real because he’d seen her receive her graduate degree, and watch the tulips she kept on the balcony bloom for the second year in a row. Her real smile came out when one of the community cats in the parking lot ate tuna right from her hand, and there was a gleam in her eyes when she talked about her research, and an impish slant of her eyebrows when pranked her brother. He had to bite his lip at the thought of it.

But that wasn’t what was wrong with the picture. It was him.

He wasn’t looking at the camera. He was facing it, mostly, but his head was turned slightly and his eyes were fully on her. And there was a stupid little grin on his face as he looked at her, his eyes crinkling and a dimple in his cheek. He knew, and Jyn would know, that that smile was genuine. And to him at least, what it meant was painfully obvious. 

Which is why he didn’t offer to show it to Jyn for the entire drive home. 

“…She’s going home tomorrow, right?” she said as they took off their coats. 

“I’m taking her to the airport in the morning.” 

“Good.”

“Good.” They stood awkwardly in front of the coat tree, staring at each other.

“I guess this is it then,” she said at length. 

“I guess it is.” Fuck, he should  _not_  feel this disappointed. 

“Well… it’s been real, I guess.” She held out a hand.

Cassian stared. “Are you… trying to shake my hand?”

The hand dropped and she blew her bangs out of her face. “I was  _trying_  to make the moment less awkward.”

“So you offered to shake my hand?” 

“Well what would you  _rather_  I have offered?” She blushed and kicked her shoes off violently. “Never mind.” 

“Sorry,” he muttered as she stomped towards the bathroom. 

He heard the shower turn on, then went to his room to change and wait until he could brush his teeth. It would probably be a while. When Jyn was in a mood she liked to take long angry-showers. 

He waited for around fifteen minutes after she finished for the steam to air out, then cautiously emerged from his bedroom. 

He was about to close the bathroom door when Jyn poked her head out from her room across the hall, already in her plaid sleep pants and her hair dripping all over her sweatshirt. 

“Wait.”

“Yes?” He slowly turned to face her, hovering warily in the doorway. 

“Can I… can I see the picture your aunt took?”

_Shit_. “Um… yeah. Okay.” He fumbled for his phone. 

“I was just curious.” 

“Yeah, that’s fine. Uh, here it is.” He held it out to her and cringed, bracing himself for the reaction. 

She stepped forward to see it and he made the mistake of inhaling. Fuck, there was her shampoo again. That should  _not_  be this intoxicating. Her bangs were stuck to her temple in dark wet curls he wanted to reach out and twist his fingers around them. She’d put some type of moisturizer on her lips too, and he watched as they parted when she looked at the picture, shiny and so, so soft. 

God, this was torture. 

He held his breath and waited. 

Finally, she stepped back, her face maddeningly blank. He wasn’t sure what he expected her to say, but it definitely wasn’t, “I didn’t know you were that good an actor.” 

“I’m not.” The words slipped out before he could stop himself. He regretted it immediately and silently cursed in every language he knew. His face was heating up again and he honestly thought he would melt into the floor.

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh.”

“I mean…” Fuck, what could he say to recover that? Nothing, right? Shit, there was nothing he could do. “Yeah, I’m not,” he finished, then hung his head. 

“Well,” she leaned against the opposite wall. “Neither am I.”

_What? No. Wait– what? How? Why? How long?_  Cassian couldn’t do this. There was too much subtext, and too much at stake. It was too confusing. “Can’t we just…  keep going?”

“What?”

“Keep… pretend-dating. Except not-pretend. Actually dating. Fuck.” He squared his shoulders. “Jyn, do you want to go on an actual date?” Heart near pounding out of his chest, he desperately searched her face for a response, positive, negative,  _anything._  

For 30 horrible seconds, nothing happened. Then, her lips curved up into a smile. The real thing, by his eyes. A real, actual smile. 

“Yes.” Then she stepped backwards and disappeared into her room. 

Cassian blinked, dazed and maybe a bit lightheaded, still not totally sure he wasn’t dreaming. 

Then Jyn’s door opened again and she slipped back out and darted forward. 

Before he knew what was happening, she cupped his face in her hands and pressed a fleeting kiss to his lips. 

Then she was gone again, her door shut and light off. 

And Cassian tottered into the bathroom, wondering how he’d brush his teeth through the stupid grin on his face. 

**Author's Note:**

> [Original Tumblr Post](https://cats-and-metersticks.tumblr.com/post/181636381455/omg-prompts-im-so-excited-i-wish-you-would)
> 
>  
> 
> The end! 
> 
> Come say hi on tumblr, I'm still [cats-and-metersticks](https://cats-and-metersticks.tumblr.com/)


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